McLaren confirm Norris discharged after medical checks as Stella explains possible cause of crash in Las Vegas

Lando Norris has been discharged from the University Medical Center after being taken for precautionary checks following his heavy crash in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The Briton had started the race from P15 on the grid, with both he and team mate Oscar Piastri exiting Q1 of Friday’s qualifying session. After making his way up to P13 in the opening laps of the event, Norris lost the back of the car on Lap 4, causing him to spin on the straight and hit the wall approaching Turn 12.

READ MORE: Verstappen beats Leclerc and Perez to victory in action-packed Las Vegas Grand Prix

His MCL60 then went into the run off area and into the barrier. Norris reported over team radio that he was okay after the incident, but was transferred to the circuit’s medical centre before then being taken to University Medical Center for further precautionary investigations.

Following his discharge, Norris offered his perspective on the incident that saw him exit the race early.

"An unfortunate end to our Las Vegas GP weekend," he said. "I just bottomed out on the restart, lost the rear and hit the wall. Not the way we wanted the weekend to end, especially considering the pace looked promising on Oscar’s side.

"Big thanks go to the medical staff for checking me over, and to the team for the work they’ll now put in on the car. One week to reset and go again for the season finale in Abu Dhabi.”

In terms of what happened to cause the incident, Team Principal Andrea Stella added: “There’s a bump in that place. There’s a bump and you can see all the cars spark when they go through this bump, and I think the combination of this bump and the cold tyres might have surprised him. Otherwise we don’t see any issue with the car or of a different nature.”

On whether the driver was a passenger in such a scenario, the Italian acknowledged that “it’s the same bump for everyone”.

FACTS AND STATS: Verstappen scores historic US hat-trick as Red Bull secure first 1-2 in drivers' championship

“It just depends on your speed, the condition of your tyres, how your car is positioned over the bump there, the position of the car ahead, so there are multiple factors,” he continued. “Just maybe Lando made the assumption that there was enough grip, but it’s a very tricky place. I’m sure all drivers will comment that that’s something that needs to be fixed.”

While the weekend proved to be a difficult one for McLaren, the team salvaged two points thanks to Oscar Piastri claiming P10 as well as the additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the Woking-based squad sit in P4 of the constructors’ standings with 284 points, giving them an 11-point lead over Aston Martin in fifth.